Jamie Cail’s boyfriend linked to 2007 death: report

The boyfriend of the ex-American swim champ found dead last week in the Virgin Islands was once convicted of charges related to the beating death of a 21-year-old tourist, according to a new report.

Three independent sources told Fox News Digital that 34-year-old Kamal “Six Pack” Thomas was dating Jamie Cail, 42, whose Feb. 21 death is now being probed by police.

Authorities said Cail was found unresponsive by her boyfriend in their home, but have yet to confirm the identity of that person.  

An autopsy for the Maine native is underway and investigators are “anxiously awaiting” those results that include a toxicology report, a Virgin Islands Police Department official told CNN Tuesday.

Cail, who was a high school swimming hotshot growing up, was apparently involved recently with a man who came from a criminal past.

Thomas, who hails from Georgia, was convicted in the death of James Cockayne after he and others fatally attacked the Pennsylvania man outside a local bar in St. John, Fox News reported, citing court records. The 2007 attack initially led to a first-degree murder charge, but Thomas was able to avoid that criminal count.  

He was instead found guilty of assault and weapons charges and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2010 during a second trial, according to local outlet the Virgin Islands Free Press. Four people were convicted of crimes tied to the death, including one man who was convicted of witness tampering, Fox News reported.

Cockayne was killed after he was ambushed, beaten and stabbed multiple times stemming from an altercation outside the bar and died in the street, CNN reported in 2007.

“It’s very difficult to get justice in the Virgin Islands,” Cockayne’s mother, Jeanie Cockayne, told Fox News. “Very difficult.”

The mother said her family hired private investigators to look into the case and handed information to police, according to Fox News.

The men involved in her son’s death were able to file successful appeals and received multiple trials before they were hit with prison time, Fox News reported.

She additionally said if Cail’s family wants justice for their loved one, “they’re going to need to fight for it.”

Virgin Islands authorities told CNN Tuesday all deaths are reviewed by the Criminal Investigations Bureau and Cail’s case currently involves “a lot of moving parts.”

The ex-swimmer turned coffee barista was discovered by her boyfriend after he left a bar around midnight on Feb. 21 and found her lying on the floor, officials said. The boyfriend and a pal took her to a local medical center, but she “succumbed to her ailment,” police said in a statement, according to boston.com.

Cail competed across the US growing up including winning a gold medal for the US in a relay race at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, according to swimming news website Swim Swam.

She swam at college prep Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida where some of school records still stand, the swimming outlet reported and also won several high school championships in Huntington Beach, California where she moved to train. 

She was a swimmer for the University of Southern California for a brief time before she transferred and competed for one season at the University of Maine, CNN reported.